


help us to be brave

by Narci



Series: See the Forest, Not Just the Trees [8]
Category: Mo Dao Zu Shi, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Juniors, M/M, Protective Lan Zhan, So..., angry jin ling, angry lan jingyi, familial ties, junior protection squad to the rescue, lowkey wangxian, no beta we die like wwx's optimism, or is it..., wwx doesn't defend himself, wwx has low self worth, wwx protection squad???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26639719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narci/pseuds/Narci
Summary: Senior Wei is crazy. He’s irresponsible and reckless. But… he always keeps them safe. Never once has Senior Wei not done everything he could to help them. Mo Village, the dancing fairy statue, Yi City, the Burial Mounds. The one thing they never doubt is his dedication to them. His dedication to himself though… that could use some work.-/-character study of wwx by the juniors (minus lsz)
Relationships: Jin Ling & Ouyang Zizhen, Jīn líng & wèi wúxiàn, Lan Jingyi & Wei Wuxian, Ouyang Zizhen & Lan Jingyi & Jin Ling & Lan Sizhui, Ouyang Zizhen & Wei Wuxian, Wei Ying/Lan Zhan
Series: See the Forest, Not Just the Trees [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915600
Comments: 30
Kudos: 666





	help us to be brave

Lan Jingyi has been called, on many, many, MANY occasions ‘the most un-Lan Lan to ever Lan’. At some point, it stops being an insult, and starts being a badge of honor. Lan Jingyi is, of course, proud to be a Lan, and he loves his teachers and the Sect Leader. Still, he can’t imagine having to be so self-contained and calm all the time. He would die. 

Actually, people haven’t been calling him the most un-Lan Lan for a while. Not since Senior Wei married HanGuang-Jun, at least. Because if Wei Wuxian declared himself the second most un-Lan Lan to ever Lan, no one would dare say they were the first. Not even Jingyi himself; Senior Wei could cause chaos like no other. Maybe that’s one of the reasons Jingyi respects him so much.

Anyway, it’s times like this that Lan Jingyi actually misses how uptight most Lans are. As much as gossip is fun, there are proper occasions, places and topics. One of the most not okay places to gossip is when one isn't in their own Sect. Especially not when _night hunting_ , and especially not about _Senior Wei_ when the man isn’t even there to defend himself. Not that he would if he was there, Jingyi thinks with a light sneer. Senior Wei never defends himself. _Ever._

Jingyi doesn’t understand how he can just sit and smile while people criticize everything he’s done in his entire life even though they don’t know Senior Wei in the slightest, and Jingyi knows how much it bugs HanGuang-Jun as well.

So, when two rogue cultivators keep going on and on about how upset and scared they are about having to work with THE Yiling Patriarch, not stopping when Lan Sizhui walks in following Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen, not even when _Senior Wei himself_ enters the tavern, Lan Jingyi gets a bit upset. (Okay, maybe more than a bit…) And he might let some spiritual power concentrate in his fists. Maybe, he aims to leave some serious bruises, and _just maybe,_ Wei Wuxian ends up having to pull him off the taller of the rogue cultivators.

The next morning is a bit upsetting for all those involved.. 

“What?! We still have to night hunt with them?” Lan Jingyi can’t believe how casual Senior Wei is being about the whole thing, seeing as the fight started in the first place because Jingyi can’t stand to see him being bad-mouthed. Even Lan Sizhui looks upset when Wei Wuxian announces that they’ll still be working with the rogue cultivators from yesterday. 

“Ehhh? Of course! We can’t just kick them out. This is their village, they deserve to protect it even if they don’t like me!”

The juniors disagree, but they can’t deny that Senior Wei has a point. While Jingyi goes along with the elder’s bullshit decision relatively easily, he also promises himself that if the rogue cultivators talk shit about Senior Wei again, it won’t be his fists that he’ll use. It’ll be his sword.

-/-

Ouyang Zizhen has always had strong opinions about the Yiling Patriarch. He’s always been curious to learn about Wei Wuxian. Always been excited to hear stories, no preference towards truth or fiction. However, his favorites came from Sect Leader Nie. The stories telling of _Young Master Wei_ instead of the Yiling Patriarch. Wistful recollections of days spent lounging in the Cloud Recesses, catching fish and cheating on tests.

So, when he finds out Senior Mo is actually Senior Wei? He’s ecstatic! Instead of just hearing stories about Wei Wuxian from others, he can hear them from the man himself. Never once does Ouyang Zizhen think that Senior Wei, the literal Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, could be a threat to him. No matter what anyone else says, no matter what Zizhen’s own father says, Senior Wei will never do anything to hurt him or the other juniors. (Zizhen is unsure where the name comes from, but it sticks, and he can’t help but refer to their group of four by it whenever he thinks of them.)

That’s why he can’t just sit here and remain silent! If Senior Wei won’t do anything, and he won’t let HanGuang-Jun do anything either by the looks of things (Senior Wei’s holding his husband’s arm tightly, and said husband’s gripping the hilt of Bichen with bone-crushing strength), then that just leaves him or Jin Ling. 

Ouyang Zizhen sneaks a look at Young Master Jin, he looks unbelievably angry, but Sect Leader Jiang is giving him a deadly glare. Then it’s up to him, Zizhen thinks with a nod.

“Father?” Sect Leader Ouyang looks at him with slightly widened eyes. Zizhen isn’t one to speak up during Discussion Conference planning, he much prefers writing romantic tales and going on adventures with his friends to taking on actual responsibility for his Sect.

“Yes?” 

“Do you know that I could take over our Sect right now?”

His father is sufficiently confused by his words. Sect Leader Yao also stops his Yiling Patriarch bashing to listen in. “Of course? You’ve been training for the position your whole life.”

“I mean, I could banish you right now and then declare war on any Sect I wanted, even if that were one of our closest allies, and you would be powerless to stop me.” For all that Ouyang Zizhen is more interested in the freedom night hunts and poetry offer him, he’s also heir to an actual idiot. When your father is as unlikable as his, you learn to smooth things over very well very quickly. You also gain power much faster than normal.

As things are right now, Ouyang Zizhen could take over BalingOuyang with little more than a peep from the subjects and disciples. His father seems to be thinking along the same lines as the Sect Leader pales drastically before sinking into his chair. 

“How dare you threaten your father like this? You unfilial little-!” Sect Leader Yao pauses in his shouting, so he can turn towards Senior Wei and increase his volume, “I bet you made him like this! Your corrupting influence turned him-” 

“Sect Leader Yao,” Zizhen cuts in with chilling sobriety in his eyes, “did you know that BalingOuyang, while not nearly as large as YunmengJiang, has twice the population and number of disciples than that of the Yao Sect?”

“So? What does that matter?” Sect Leader Yao barely lowers his voice, but at least now he’s not spitting when he yells. “We’re allies. Of course, I know how large the Ouyang Sect is.” 

“Large enough to decimate the Yao Clan if we went to war?” The room is dead quiet and Jin Ling looks shook. Ouyang Zizhen smiles gently as he ignores the horror on his father’s face and leans forward elegantly. “You don’t actually have to respond to that one, Sect Leader Yao. We both already know the answer, and we also know that the Four Great Clans wouldn’t be particularly upset if there was some infighting among the smaller sects.”

Sect Leader Yao’s mouth opens and closes in tiny outraged movements. Zizhen’s eyes and smile soften even more. He radiates a smoothly calming aura. It doesn’t quite match up with his words. Zizhen finds the juxtaposition a beautiful addition to his systemic oppression, “Of course, I have no reason to take action against Sect Leader Yao currently. However… I care deeply for Senior Wei Wuxian, and hearing anyone insult him upsets me. You wouldn’t want to upset me, would you?”

Jin Ling slow claps and internally promises that he’s going to tell Jingyi and Sizhui about this as soon as possible. Preferably in person. He honestly can't believe that Zizhen would just up and threaten to hypothetically destroy an entire clan in order to protect Wei Wuxian’s feelings. Actually, that's not true. Jin Ling can believe it, he just hadn’t imagined that Zizhen would do it right in front of all four of the Great Clans’ leaders. 

Even HanGuang-Jun looks a little impressed.

-/-

For all that he once stabbed his uncle, Jin Ling actually loves Wei Wuxian. Jin Ling will (like his second uncle and his maternal grandmother) never, ever, ever tell the man that, but he thinks his uncle knows anyway. Because of that irritating affection, Jin Ling actually looks forward to everytime Wei Wuxian comes to the LanlingJin Sect just to pick him up for some night hunt or another. 

When Jin Ling lets his last arrow fly right into the bullseye and motions for a servant to collect his things and take his bow, he turns around and quickly runs to where he knows his uncle will be waiting. The koi pond entertains Wei Wuxian to no end, and Jin Ling isn’t going to argue. (He also maybe considers it their place, their spot… and feels comforted everytime he goes there even if he’s by himself.)

“Didn’t he kill Jin Zixuan and his wife?” A disciple’s voice can be heard from not so far off, and Jin Ling freezes at the words.

“You know that Young Master Jin stabbed him once?”

“Yeah! Not so all-powerful after all, huh?”

“Well, duh. If even Young Master Jin can get a hit on him, he can’t be all that. He managed to die once, didn’t he?”

“You’re so right!” The disciple breaks out into wild and deep laughter.

For Jin Ling to be able to hear them so well, they have to be somewhere near the pond’s pavilion, and if they’re near the pavilion, Wei Wuxian can definitely hear them as well. Jin Ling waits for some reaction from his uncle (maybe a joke or something?), but all he catches is a quiet whistling drifting his way. The disciples fall into silence immediately. 

Jin Ling starts moving again, but his uncle beats him to the maybe-not-so-metaphorical punch. “Is that any way for a Jin disciple to speak of their Sect Leader? Don’t you know anything about respect?”

Jin Ling is shocked by many parts of Wei Wuxian’s words. One, they aren’t said jokingly which is rare for his uncle. Two, respect???? Does Wei Wuxian even know what respect is? It certainly doesn’t seem like it most of the time. Maybe becoming a Lan through marriage somehow unlocked the never before seen Polite!Wei Wuxian? And three, that his uncle said anything at all???

For months, the juniors had to watch and listen as random cultivators and unimportant strangers went unpunished for their words against Senior Wei purely because Wei Wuxian wouldn’t do anything about it himself and rarely let anyone else speak up (or throw down) on his behalf. In summary, Wei Wuxian is silent exclusively when he should speak up and set things straight. 

But this time he says something? Why? What’s diff- oh. Jin Ling realizes why Wei Wuxian responded just as his uncle and the (apparently three, Jin Ling definitely only thought there were two) Jin disciples come into view. Wei Wuxian isn’t finally sick of the ridicule so many send his way, no, nothing like that, he’s defending Jin Ling! 

“What the fuck?!” The Jin disciples jump at his shout and immediately go purple with possible fear or regret. Wei Wuxian just smiles and waves at his nephew. The calm expression just goes to further Jin Ling’s anger.

“Do you have no shame? Don’t ever insult my uncle again, or I’ll break your legs and kick you down the steps of Koi Tower! Do you not realize that most of the things you hear about the Yiling Patriarch are manipulated by people like Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao? Do you really want to follow _their_ lead?”

The three disciples react similarly: varying head shakes and trembling lips. Jin Ling scoffs and waves them off with an exceedingly eloquent ‘piss off.’ He has better things to focus on then idiotic Jin disciples. For example, his idiotic uncle.

“Don’t think I’m not upset with you too!”

“Young Master Jin,” Wei Wuxian smiles indulgently as he falls into step with Jin Ling. “I would never dream of you _not_ being mad at me for some reason.”

“Well. This time, I’m actually angry!” His uncle laughs loudly as if to project the sentiment ‘don’t you always say that?’, and Jin Ling blushes before continuing, “How could you say those things?”

“Hmmmm? Oh, should I not discipline your disciples for you? Is it too much influence over the youth for the Yiling Patriarch to possess?” Jin Ling can hear the amusement in his uncle’s voice, and he knows that the older cultivator was just kidding, but it’s too close to what all the snobbish elder cultivators say about Wei Wuxian all the time! 

Tears actually spring to Jin Ling’s eyes, much to his embarrassment, as he shouts, “Why will you defend me but not yourself?! What makes you worth so much less??? Do you not understand that even if it slides off your back like water off a duck’s it still affects those who care about you? Say something when you’re insulted! Say something when someone isn’t fair to you! Can’t you just stop letting it go?!”

For a moment, his uncle is silent. They stopped walking somewhere around the beginning of Jin Ling’s rant, so now they’re just motionless, staring at each other. Jin Ling wonders what it would’ve been like to stand off with Wei Wuxian in his original body. (He hears his uncle used to be much taller.) Will it make Jin Ling feel differently if he looks into the same eyes his own mother did? Will it make Jin Ling love his uncle more? He doesn’t actually think that’s possible. Jin Ling can’t imagine caring about this child playing around with an adult’s face even more than he does right now.

Finally, Wei Wuxian breaks eye contact and looks up to the sky with a heavy sigh, “What’s the point?”

It catches Jin Ling off guard, the tone and the words themselves, “What?”

“What’s the point in saying anything to those cultivators we work with on one night hunt or the Sect Leaders I see maybe twice a year? Would my crying and screaming at them change anything? Would they suddenly see me as I am after keeping their grudges for this long? No. Nothing I say is going to change what people who don’t know me think. I accepted that long before I died, before I became the Yiling Patriarch even. I’ve accepted it and you all need to as well. Defending me relentlessly all the time is useless. It doesn’t have any long term effects; it only makes people harbor more resentment. Besides,” he trails off.

Jin Ling waits for him to finish, but his uncle just changes the subject. Still, he can sort of guess what Wei Wuxian had been about to say. 

‘Besides, they’re not exactly wrong.’

Jin Ling wishes he could do something to make his uncle realize exactly what kind of person he really is. How good he is. How good he makes other people. Maybe then, the older cultivator would be willing to let his family defend him. Maybe.

fin.

**Author's Note:**

> longest part!!!!!!! this was so fun to write??? also it was kind of a balm to all the angst i've been writing recently ahahahaha... orginally, i wanted it to be half this length and include lsz's 'time he stood up for wwx', but then it got way longer than the other ones i've posted, and i was like 'you know what, lsz gets his own part later anyway'. 
> 
> i really hope you like this one b/c it took me a while! 
> 
> so... lan sizhui and jiang cheng are technically in this, buuuuuuuttttttttttt... they're basically just mentioned sry. (don't worry though, they'll have their time to shine later)
> 
> leave a comment about anything you liked or disliked and i will never forget you 
> 
> <3333333333333


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